The present invention relates to a sty for sows having piglets. Moreover, the invention relates to a device for protecting the piglets against squeezing when the sow lies down.
It is well known to build sties for sows having piglets according to different principles dependent upon whether the sows are bound or allowed to walk freely within the sty. In the most recent years it has been usual to place the sows in the so-called farrows sties in which the sow is bound. The piglets can then walk freely on each side of the sow and will also have a possibility for placing themselves on a hot plate or its like in a climate department in which a comfort temperature exists which has been adjusted to the piglets. In order to avoid that the piglets are squeezed to death under the sow when it lies down, protecting devices are applied in form of metal bars on each side of the sow. When the sow lies down the piglets can escape to the free area on each side of the sow.
In stables for untethered sows protecting rings will be placed along the walls of the sty, which protecting rings will impede the piglets from being squeezed against the walls. By a loose-housing system the sow can usually place itself along any wall or in any position on the floor. The known sties for loose-housing system are disadvantageous by being very room demanding in relation to the room required in sties where the sows are bound.
In the recent years there has been an increased understanding to use sties where the sows having piglets can walk freely around and optionally lie down in various positions. This wish has until now not been so widespread because of the essentially increased costs due to the bigger requirement for room. Moreover, many stables are today built according to modules which are determining for the total size of the stable, the placing for the transference devices for feed, water and the like. Moreover, these modules are determining with respect to the placing of the walls for division of the stable in various sty sections.
In the known stables where sows are with piglets until they are weaned from the mother sow, there is an additional disadvantage. This disadvantage is to be seen in the requirement for frequent cleaning. Each time a sty is emptied both the sow and the piglets are removed from the sty and there will be a need for cleaning before new animals are placed in the sty.
In spite of an increased industrialisation within pig breeding there has until now been no suggestions about the building of stables in a way which considers the wish about the loose-housing system, which considers the need of the sow to move around freely and with the avoidance of the risk of squeezing the piglets and which concurrently makes it possible to have an effective use of the stable which is comparable to the use of the room which is known from stables with binding of the sows.
In an example of a sty which partly considers the above wishes about a loose-housing system is described in Norwegian Patent No. 180,401. Here it is described how a sty can be build with two or more boxes within four outer walls. The boxes are subdivided by means of further dividing walls to create room for sows and for piglets. By increase of the piglets the central dividing walls can be moved and/or removed so that the piglets can walk within the same four outer walls under growth and fattening until slaughtering. The building of these sties makes it impossible to consider the module measures which are used in existing sties with clamping. Even though the sties are made to be usable during the growth of the pigs, a wish of effective use of the stable area has not been fulfilled.
It is the object of the present invention to provide a building of a stable which considers these wishes and which simultaneously enables it to make a rebuilding of the existing sties in which the animals are bound to sties where the animals are loose without any need for essential rebuildings or changes in the existing modules which are used in the various building elements in the stable.
This is achieved by the present invention with a sty in which a rectangular sty department results by means of four walls where in a corner or in two diagonally opposite corners of the sty department a substantially rectilinear climate department for the piglets is formed where a substantially diagonal wall has been placed adjacent to that or those inner corners of the climate departments to form two separate substantially triangular sties where at least the diagonal wall is so long that the sow may lie along this, and where each sty comprises mounted devices in the floor to protect the piglets against squeezing when the sow lays down.
The protection device according to the invention is characterized in that it comprises means for mounting in the floor of a sty that it is mushroom-shaped and has a substantially cylindrical stem and a substantially ball-shaped hat and which have a greatest height above the floor which makes it possible for the sow to walk across it, and a dimension to the underside of the hat which makes it possible for the piglets to walk under it.
With such a sty it is possible that the four walls which provide the rectangular sty department can be placed according to the same modules or even be existing separating walls from a stable with bound sows. By placing the climate departments in each diagonally opposite corner and divide the sty with a diagonal wall a sufficient length is obtained so that a sow at least can lie down along the diagonal wall. If existing modules are used, one of the outer walls will also have a sufficient length so that the sow may lay down along this wall.
According to a preferred embodiment, the protection device is characterized in that it is fastened to the floor by means of a resilient bar which at the lower end has a hook which may be displaced down in between two grid bars in the floor, and may be rotated to a position for engagement under the grid bars by means of a control lever on the top side of the ball. Hereby it is possible to quickly and in a simple manner to move or to remove the device if it is no longer needed, whereby the whole floor area will be free.
The climate departments which are placed in the corner can be provided with hot plates or other hot devices and have a cover to create the wanted comfortable temperature for the piglets. Each of these climate departments will at one side be closed towards one of the sty sections while another side will turn towards the sty where the mother sow is placed.
By placing protecting devices which prevent the squeeze of the piglets against the floor a freedom is obtained in relation to the known placing where protection rings traditionally are used which are fastened to the side walls. By mounting protecting devices in appropriate positions a security is thus obtained against squeezing of the piglets when the sow lays down in one or another position. The positioning of the protecting rings may simultaneously be determining for the forming of the natural laying down positions of the sow within the sty in such a way that the piglets always can escape.
Each rectangular sty department which comprises two triangular sties can be prepared by letting the rectangular sty department have a width between 2000 and 2600 mm, preferably between 2200 and 2400 mm and a length between 2800 and 3400 mm, preferably between 3000 and 3200 mm and that each climate department has a width between 500 and 700 mm, preferably 600 mm, and a length between 700 and 900 mm, preferably 800 mm. These measures correspond to the known modules when building sties where the sows are bound. In the known stables such a rectangular sty department will thus comprise two rectangular sties, where a sow is bound in each sty having the head oriented in the one direction.
By building the sty according to the invention it will be possible to place the climate department for the piglets in one corner or to place a climate department in two diagonal opposite corners of the sty. If the climate department is placed in the one corner of the sty section each of the two climate departments will additionally have a triangular form, because they then will be divided by a diagonal wall within the climate department.
However, it is preferred that a climate department is placed in each diagonally opposite corner of the sty. In this embodiment a prolongation of the diagonal wall is established having a side wall for each climate department, so that this will have a closed side towards the other sty and an open side leading to the sty where the mothersow walks. In this embodiment the feed and drinking trough of the sow will preferably be placed in that corner of the sty which is adjacent to the climate department of the neighbouring sty.
The animals can be fed with a central feeding plant having pipe feeding automatic machines which are well-known within the art. By placing the feeding troughs in each diametrically opposite corner of the sty department two parallel transference pipes for feeding/water will thus be applied. Alternatively, a central feeding transference pipe having a branch to each of the two feeding/drinking troughs can be applied.
Although the sty is arranged for a untethered sow it will appropriate to be able to use the stable for fixing of the sow if it is an aggressive sow where there is a risk that the piglets will be eaten. This may be obtained if the sty is characterised in that at least a part of the outer wall is hinged to the remaining part of the outer wall in a position close to the trough of the sow and that said part is arranged for being swung to and remain fastened in a position parallel to the diagonal wall. It will thus be possible to fix the sow and reduce the risk that she will attack the piglets.
It is preferred that the upper part of the side wall is swung into the sty and leave a lower part of the side wall in its original position in order to hinder the piglets from running out from the sty. It will be sufficient to swing the upper part of the side wall into the sty in order to hinder the free movement of the sow. The part of the outer wall which is swung into the sty may by means of a connecting rod be fastened to the diagonal wall and/or by means of a post which is mounted in the floor of the sty. Moreover, a pivoting part of the outer wall will ease the user""s access to the sty which may be appropriate when the piglets are to be looked after and possibly are to be given medicine.
In order to create comfort by the sow and piglets it is preferred that a sty according to the invention is characterised in that at the corner of the sty by the climate department a dosing device is procured which is arranged for dosage of bedding out on the floor of the sty as a consequence of the influence from the animals and which is connected with a central supply plant or a funnel formed container in each sty. Due to the nature of the animals and as the dosing device is placed close to the climate department a spreading of the bedding in the climate department and on the floor of the sty which is adjacent to the climate department will take place. It will thus be possible to make an automatic bedding in the sty by means of the dosage device.
The protecting devices will preferably be mushroom-shaped devices which substantially have a cylindrical stem and a substantially ball-shaped hat and which have a biggest height over the floor which makes it possible that the sow can walk across them and a dimension to the underside of the hat which makes it possible that the piglets can walk under them. These are fastened to the floor by means of a resilient bar which at a lower end is provided with a hook which may be displaced downwards into an opening, preferably between two grid bars in the floor and may be rotated to a position for engagement under the grid bars by means of a normal control lever upon the top side of the ball.
It is preferred that these protecting devices at least are placed on a row along at least one wall along which the sow may lie down. In each row a number of between two and five protecting devices are used. The number depends on the actual length of the wall and the length of the sow. Thus a number of devices are used which ensures that a free side wall having a length which is longer than the length of the sow does not occur.
It is preferred to place two to three protecting devices quite close to the diagonal wall and at each of the two outer walls in the sty. In order to ensure that the sow lies down in natural lay positions relatively close along one of the outer walls it is preferred also to place three protecting devices in the middle of the sty. Hereby three oblong lie areas along each of the side walls of the sty are formed.
As the protecting devices have a highest height which makes is possible that the sow can walk across them the sow will have a big freedom of movement in the sty and may turn and walk around in the sty for either turning toward the feed trough or the climate department. As the protecting devices are dimensioned so that the piglets may walk under them it is preferred that the ball-shaped hat is very flat and possibly can assume a very flat oval cross-section.
The protecting devices which are mounted inside the sty will preferably be made of plastic. In a specific simple embodiment they can be made of a ball which is placed on the end of a cylindrical pipe which again stands on a baseplate having a larger diameter to secure a stabile placing on the floor. Through these elements a spring bar is placed consisting of an outer and inner pipe which are in a resilient engagement with each other and where a hook is placed at the lower side of the inner pipe, which hook can swing underneath the grid bars in the floor. This is a particularly simple construction which makes a fastening of the different elements in the protecting device with the protecting device fastened concurrently in a random position on the floor surface.
Preferably, the floor surface in the sty will be built of grids and will preferably be built of grids having known module measures of 40xc3x9760 cm. With these module measures for a sty four grids will be used in the width of a rectangular sty department and in the longitudinal direction of the sty department eight rows will be used. In the climate department hot plates will preferably be used which are settable in a frame having module measures corresponding to the module measures for the individual grids. The grids which are used for the floor will preferably by plastic grids. Alternatively, also grids made of cast iron or concrete may be used and it will also be possible to build a sty according to the invention having a firm sty floor.
The invention will hereafter be explained in more detail with reference to the accompanying schematic drawing, in which